Blountstown Tiger football fans will have something new to look forward to this season and some new opponents on the schedule. Twelve area Class A teams have joined the Sunshine State Athletic Conference (SSAC), and will play a regular season schedule, have playoffs and the winner can still participate in the FHSAA state playoffs.

According to Blountstown High School Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Beau Johnson, it took several meetings with SSAC and some schools weren’t left with enough time to join this year.

“The original meetings with about 22 Class A Rural schools started over concerns that the FHSAA Rural League was becoming something that it originally was not intended to be. There were schools allowed in to be in it that just frankly were not what a large group of the original Rural teams considered to be Rural. At the same time, we all did admit that every sport not just football benefited from being part of the FHSAA Rural Division. So, the coaches and ADs met with the SSAC or Sunshine State Athletic Conference. We came away very impressed with the SSAC but at the same time did not want to fully break away from the FHSAA. The SSAC showed us a model that they used in Basketball in central Florida where their league played a regular season, a SSAC tournament then proceeded into a FHSAA District Tournament and if eligible on to the FHSAA State Tournament. So after several meetings and a lot of work on the SSAC leaders part we went with a Conference Playoff/Championship bracket the last 3 weeks of the season, but will also be eligible to make the FHSAA State Playoffs,” coach Johnson explained.

The FHSAA had already done away with Districts. You could schedule anyone you wanted to and go off a RPI (Rating power Index) to determine who makes the FHSAA State playoffs.

“This had made scheduling a nightmare and caused some of us schools to lose long time rivals and great gate money. So why join and be part of it? For Blountstown, there were several factors. No. 1: We were having trouble finding 10 games without traveling 5 or 6 hours to play. We had 7 or 8 but having lost some long time opponents off our schedule it guaranteed us 10 games with a chance to make great gate money and low travel expenses. Weeks 9-11 will be split gates whether you are home or away; No. 2 - With the playoff system set up the way it is we should get to play some very well coached good opponents to help our RPI and to get us playoff tested heading into the FHSAA State Playoffs; No. 3 - All of us that joined felt like our Rural towns deserved something for our fans, players and community to play for. Something fun and exciting. Without Districts and the eroding of some of our close opponents off the schedule the last 3 weeks should be some great games leading to a championship game being played at a nuetral site,” coach Johnson noted.

The conference playoffs should offer some season ending excitement for all the conference members. “Once 12 teams were committed, the SSAC helped to set us up a bracket and how this playoff system would work with input from the schools who chose to jump in. Staying with the way FHSAA had us scheduling you can play anyone you want weeks 1-8 (7 games and 1 open week) then the Top 8 teams will be put in a bracket with the top 2 playing for the SSAC North Florida A Rural Title and the losers of week 9 then playing it out for the BIG BEND BRAWL title. Both of these Title games will be played at a neutral site (thinking it might be Tommy Oliver) on the same day. So you’re talking four of these panhandle towns packing a stadium to see 2 great local title games. That will be a lot of fun. The bottom 4 will be set up on a round robin format and a trophy given to the best team in that scenario. I can see this growing in the future and being a ton of fun,” coach Johnson explained.

There won’t be a point season or playoff seeding in this new setup coach Johnson noted. “Another cool aspect to the SSAC set up is the coaches through a blind poll determine the seeding for the Playoffs, not a point system or some computer. The FHSAA has approved all of this and all of our teams will be eligible to compete for the playoffs.”

According to coach Johnson, the 2019 schedule won’t be an easy one.

“Our 2019 Schedule, although very tough will be exciting and fun for our players, school, town and fans. We start off playing the 2A state champion North Florida Christian Eagles in Tallahassee for the Classic. Why not see what you are made of early? Find out your weaknesses so we can get them fixed for when it matters. Then We face 5A Arnold, 4A Marianna, 4A Bay High and old rivals Liberty, Port St Joe and Chipley. After being dropped by several local teams from the schedule we picked up an out of state opponent in Deerfield Windsor from Albany, Georgia. Deerfield has won 16 Region Championships and 4 State Titles in Georgia and in some years similar to a North Fla Christian. Coach Lowe is a great football coach and has won over 200 games in his career at Deerfield. It will be a fun trip to a nice school and should be a great football game. With our current RPI system deciding playoffs I wanted to schedule tough. As my favorite Wrestler of all time Ric Flair said, "To be the man you got to beat the man". For a Class A team its a tough schedule. But we have some of the toughest people in the world in this town. Our team reflects that every year. 2019 won't be any different. Lets get ready to support our Tigers and scream GO BIG RED!!!! See you there!”